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Bathrooms really aren’t complete anymore without a niche -- or several -- studding your shower wall to make an ingenious storage area for shampoo, conditioner, shaving products and body wash. Experienced pros give lots of thought to how to tile each niche, so you and your houseguests don’t have to squint at permanent mistakes, wondering what doesn’t seem quite right about your DIY niche installation. You can follow their tips to get the little details just so.

Picking a Location

A terrific niche or recess starts long before you start troweling thinset on the wall. Think carefully about where to locate the niche. Place it away from the area of shower splashing that comes heavily off your head and shoulders and hits the wall toward the front of the shower. Avoid placing a cubbyhole in an exterior wall, where the lack of insulation once you cut between the studs can freeze your bath products solid -- not the best start to a shower. Mark on your green board or bare studs the approximate height you want your niche or niches -- but hold off for now on setting the exact final point for the bottom and top shelves.

Aligning Niche Height and Tiles

Regardless of the size of your tiles, you want them to line up at least with the bottom of your niche for a professional appearance. The easiest way to do this is to make a jury stick -- a 1-by-2 or similarly sized piece of wood, marked in increments to show the size of each tile and including an allowance for grout. Hold the jury stick up against the green board or studs so you can mark the approximate bottom and top of the niche. You can start tiling for real now, a row at a time until you hit the bottom of the first niche.

Aligning the Niche Width

You may want to align the sides of the niche with your grout lines too, although it’s perfectly OK to pursue other design alternatives. If you want to align the sides, one option is to use 13-inch-square tiles. If you pursue this option, you’ll need to screw in framing members alongside the niche’s existing studs to narrow them from the full 14 1/2-inch space available between studs. You can also combine typical 6- and 8-inch tiles to create a pattern that comes close to 14 inches, and need only a small buildup of the niche’s sides. You’re also free to ignore both side and top alignment and use super-sized tiles. Notch them around the sides and top of the niche in a symmetric pattern.

Tricks of the Trade

The pros also pay attention to other little touches and details worth emulating. When you put in the bottom crosspiece for the niche, tilt it slightly forward so that when it’s tiled, it sheds water into the shower. A grade of just 1/16 of an inch created with a cardboard shim will do, advises Roger Lodwig of Floor Elf. If you plan to use listello tiles -- intricate tile borders available on mesh backing -- align these with the top of the niche, or just a bit higher, Lodwig recommends.

About the Author

An award-winning writer and editor, Rogue Parrish has worked at the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and at newspapers from England to Alaska. This world adventurer and travel book author, who graduates summa cum laude in journalism from the University of Maryland, specializes in travel and food -- as well as sports and fitness. She's also a property manager and writes on DIY projects.